


Not too late

by Sardon



Series: A concoction of Fictions in other fandom s [9]
Category: Inside Out (2015)
Genre: Guilt, M/M, Memories, Memory Loss, rebuilding relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-19 05:43:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5955801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sardon/pseuds/Sardon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every emotion manages to annoy Anger somehow especially Fear. But what will happen when Anger goes a step too far?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What I've done

Riley wasn’t having a good day which in headquarters was provoking Anger to one of many explosions. Anger’s temper hadn’t been this out of hand since the move to San Francisco. None of the other emotions had dared to come near him, all astonished at how much fire one emotion could let out in a single day.

As the day came to an end all the emotions were relieved that the day was finally over. However this hadn’t made Angers mood any better , knowing he was scheduled for dream duty that night. In attempt to make Anger feel calmer Fear offered to do dream duty which was something he wouldn't usually do, but at times like this he was prepared to make an exception.

Anger replied with a grunt before stomping off, the other emotions watched him as he slammed his bedroom door so violently that a few memories which were mostly red fell out of place. Joy sighed as she went around picking up the memory balls that had fallen off the shelf and sending them to long term memory along with all the others, a look of disappointment showing on her face.

After wishing everyone to have a good night's sleep Fear made himself a cup of tea before sitting in front of the screen to watch what the dream production had in store for him.

The following morning Joy as always was the first one to be awake and ready to make sure today was another good day for Riley. Disgust was next to appear. As soon as she had made eye contact with the yellow emotion, Joy had walked away from the console to let Disgust do her job.

Fear had just got back from making himself a coffee to keep himself awake after having done Anger’s dream duty, his eyes darted around headquarters knowing that Anger was soon going to stomp to the console. Fear closed his eyes as if he was praying that Anger would be in his own version of a good mood.

Sadness was next to set foot in headquarters which was quite surprising as she was usually the last emotion to make an appearance, this had made Fear feel more uncomfortable as his gut instincts instantly told him that today wasn’t going to be any different from yesterday.

 

Shortly after Fears worrying thought Anger had indeed arrived near the console, his facial expression showing pure anger while his head looked as if he was about to explode in a matter of seconds even if no embers were currently occupying the top of his brick like head. However one thing Fear could tell about Anger just by taking a few seconds to have a quick glance was if anyone made a single wrong move today they could be the victim of yet another temper rage.

Fear decided to stand away from Anger for the morning as he didn't particularly fancy being the first one to be yelled at or to be used as a punch bag. Anger had placed himself on the pink sofa, grumbling to himself while reading the latest issue of the mind reader. Joy was controlling the console with help from Disgust. Fear walked over to Sadness who was at the back of headquarters reading mind manuals as teenagers weren't easy to handle. Fear offered to help by writing down anything new that Sadness managed to find out. She accepted his offer as she was more than aware of Fears intentions to stay out of Angers way.

However the _calm_ atmosphere fell apart during last lesson at school which was Riley’s most hated subject. Maths. All the emotions became aware of Anger’s embers that were sizzling on the top of his head, the noise clearly scaring Fear. Joy had tried to keep Riley happy, it was increasingly difficult when the teacher seemed to only pick on Riley to answer questions in a less than polite way.

“You're the teacher, since you're so smart why don't you answer it “! Anger yelled, his fist clenched so tight that it's usually dark redness was turning into a lighter shade which was new sight for the other emotions.

Trying to ignore Angers presence Joy kept her grip onto the main lever that was used by all the emotions. Inside Joy was secretly panicking as she knew this could get out of hand in a matter of minutes.

Then the worst thing that the teacher could ever do in Fears mind, especially when Anger was in one of his vile moods was give out a homework assignment without warning. Just as he and possibly some of the other emotions suspected Anger had immediately stood up the moment the teacher mentioned homework, his hands scrunching up the mind reader into a tight ball and tossing it away. Ready to bash the console to pieces in rage.

The longer the teacher went on for the angrier Anger became, the embers on his head ready to erupt at any moment. Fear had already taken cover hiding behind the core memories, his entire body shaking like a leaf being blown in a hurricane along with his pupils wider than he could ever recall and quietly mumbling to himself _please don’t let anything bad happen_ repeatedly.  
On the other hand Anger was on the urge of losing control as the bell had just rung to signal that it was the end of lesson, however the teacher continued to talk without noticing Riley’s fuming glares which Anger was responsible for as he had shoved Joy out the way claiming that things could get nasty.

Joy’s blue eyes practically pleaded Anger to control his temper, Anger was aware of Joy’s worried look on her face. He choose to ignore it, after all now wasn’t the time to start backing down from what he started.

Anger suddenly picked up on the teacher giving Riley a stern stare. “Andersen, what did I just say”! The teacher spat. Anger’s eyes gave a deep scowl, he furiously punched a button that made Riley shout abuse at the teacher before storming out the class, ignoring when the teacher shouted about her getting a detention tomorrow.

“DETENTION, FOR TELLING YOU THE TRUTH ABOUT YOURSELF”! Anger yelled, violently kicking over one of the stools that were used as foot rests on the sofa.

“Anger calm down” Joy called, rushing over to him along with Disgust and Sadness to hold him back from kicking or destroying anything else in his path.

“GET OFF OF ME”! Anger yelled again, this time with embers sizzling loudly making the others flinch back ready for an explosion to happen.

Ashamed of how he was acting Fear decided to try and engage in the drama, hoping that he could at least help them to calm Anger down before things got any worse.  
Fear walked timidly up to the other emotions who looked just as terrified as he did. Fear then stepped forward resulting in being closer to the anger zone.

“Anger please calm down, please” Fear said, his voice sounding as if he was whispering something top secret.

“Shut it beanpole”! Anger shouted, his fists clenched again ready to punch anything or anyone who pushed him to his absolute limit.

Fears nerves had kicked in enormously, his hands were shaking constantly. He looked as if he was about to collapse there and then. But to the other emotions surprise he dared to get a bit closer, he had to do something before Anger really did put his foot in it.

“This really isn’t helping Riley right now, you need to stay calm”! Fear begged, his eyes looking watery. It was a look he knew might get Anger to stop in his tracks and do what the purple emotion told him.

Unfortunately Anger didn’t take Fears request to heart, none of the other emotions prepared for what was about to come.

“RIGHT THAT’S IT”! Anger yelled punching Fear so violently in the stomach that he went flying over to the big window where the emotions watched the islands of personality. Fear’s head made a huge banging sound knocking Fear out in seconds along with all of today's memory balls shaking and making a loud rattling noise. The mind manuals had all fallen out from the shelves leaving them in a messy pile. Joy then ran up to Fear to check if he was alright, when she realised he was unconscious she turned on Anger.

“You have gone too far Anger”! Joy said, sounding angry herself. Disgust went over to join Joy, giving her back a comforting rub before reassuring her that he would be fine.

“What if he never wakes up” Sadness added, her voice wobbling with tears forming in her eyes,

Anger who was still standing near the console, shocked from the amount of force he had used on Fear. He didn’t regret what he did and he certainly wasn’t sorry, _the beanpole should have kept his wimpy mouth shut!_ Anger thought to himself in irritation.

Before anyone could say another word they heard groaning from the purple emotion who was still lying on the floor, with his head flat against the window. Fear’s eyes went wide before struggling to get up on to his feet. Joy took his hand and helped him to get up before it was slapped away by Fear.

“Fear I…” Joy began before he cut her off.

“I- who are you”? Fear asked, his voice trembling.

“What erm…” Joy stammered, trying to gently grab hold of Fear’s hand.

“I DON’T KNOW YOU “! Fear shrieked before rushing into his own room and standing on his bed, shaking furiously and whimpering. It was usual for him to run away and scream but not remembering who any of the fellow emotions were was another matter entirely.

  
“Hey wait, come back I didn’t mean to scare you” Joy said softly which got Fear to cooperate by poking his head around the door, his eyes still wide with terror. Joy struggled to get her voice under control, she knew it was absolutely necessary for her to be calm, she had never seen Fear in such a petrified state. What he needed was someone calm.

“I don’t know what’s going on but I think we need to get you seen to by someone who can help you” Joy stated, feeling her heart racing with concern.

“Joy” Disgust began before Fear hid his face away from the green stranger.

“Er Joy if he can’t remember who we are then how is he going to remember who he is or his purpose”?

Joy's eyes teared up for a second. “No” she whispered, putting her hand over her mouth. “We have to figure out what’s going on” Joy said, forcing those tears to stay behind her eyes.

“Goodbye safety, hello danger” Sadness said miserably, her head drooped down when Joy let out a heavy sigh.

“We have to get help” Joy said confidently.

Now seeing how bad the situation was Anger stood up to assist with Joy’s plan only to be stopped by Joy and Disgust.

“You're not coming” Disgust said, glaring at him with hatred.

“What”! Anger said, making an effort to keep calm.

“In case you haven't figured it out you were the cause of all this you moron”! Disgust huffed.

“Yeah I think it's best you stay here “ Joy added, a look of sorrow entering her facial expression.

Anger looked bewildered.

Once Disgust and Joy left to get help, Sadness was in charge of taking care of Fear while Anger had been left with the console. He didn’t touch it for the whole time Joy and Disgust were gone.

Anger was sat on the sofa mumbling to himself. The anger he felt earlier had disintegrated which was replaced the the horrible stabbing pain of guilt in his chest. This wasn’t something he felt often, it was uncomfortable and horrible. Anger sighed as he thought about all the times Joy had told him to control his temper, he now wished he hadn’t been so stubborn and did what he was told. All those times when he had grumbled to Joy that he was in control of his temper were now coming back to haunt him, he clearly wasn’t and today had just proved that Joy and the others had been right about him all along.

Placing his head into his hands Anger let out a shaky sigh. _The midget volcano strikes again_ is what a certain green emotion would say, he hated to admit that she wasn’t wrong. He had struck again which this time could lead to severe life changing consequences that he and he alone was responsible for.

_What had he done?_


	2. Picking up the pieces

From their journey to get help it was revealed that Fear has a head injury. Joy explained that head injuries mostly cause you to lose your memory. Of course there were so many other things that occurred but Joy only told them the necessary information to guide them and their concerns.

After the time it took for the information to sink in Joy , Disgust and Sadness were all sat on the pink sofa near the console, coming up with ideas on how to help Fear’s memory without giving too much away.

“We could ask him questions to see how much he remembers” Sadness suggested which Joy thought about for a second before rejecting the idea.

“Sadness if we asked too many it would just stress him out” Joy responded. Sadness considered Joy’s point of view , deciding that she was right.

“Why don’t we just sleep on it, he might remember the next day” Disgust commented.

“That could take ages and we don’t know if he will ever regain his memory, which will lead to Riley never being safe again then she will be forever in danger and then…”.  
“ Well we have to try and come up with something” Joy said with determination.

While Joy and Disgust continued to discuss idea’s Sadness wandered off to where the core memories were neatly placed. An idea suddenly popping into her head.

“Joy why don’t we use the core memories to remind Fear of what his purpose is” Sadness said which caught Joy’s attention. She squealed with happiness before running over to the core memories.

“Good idea Sadness” Joy praised, making Sadness feeling proud of herself.

“How do you know it will work”? Disgust asked in a dull tone.

“I can’t be a hundred percent certain it will work, but we will just have to try and think positive” Joy responded.

Sadness nodded in agreement.

“Works for me” Disgust said before checking herself in her little mirror.

“Fear” Joy called softly. Fear poked his head round the door murmuring slightly.

“It's okay” Joy added in the same tone of voice which encouraged Fear to take a step further towards Joy and Disgust who was standing a few steps beside her.

Joy looked carefully around the table that held the core memories before gracefully taking one out and placing it into her hand, swiping the memory ball with her finger so Fear saw it play in front of his very eyes.

It was the memory of her hockey try outs when she first moved to San Francisco. Fear gazed at the memory in delight.

“Remind you of anything”? Joy asked, her positive mood contributing to the happiness in her tone of voice.

Fear tilted his head as if he was thinking hard, however he shook his head in shame.

Joy sighed before putting the memory back in and taking another one just as carefully.

“How about this one” Joy asked, hoping this memory would help.

Fear gave the memory a few minutes of his attention before he shook his head again, looking as if he had just been slapped in the face.

 _This clearly isn't working._ Joy thought to herself before running over to the console to bring out one of Riley's old dreams of Jangles.

 _This has to work, I can feel it,_ was Joy’s second thought before putting the dream memory into the bottom of the console.

As the old dream played Joy Disgust and Sadness all pulled faces while Fear stood near the console laughing, claiming that Jangles looked funny in his wig and red nose.

“Joy what do we do now”? Disgust whispered to Joy, glancing up at Fear who was still laughing.

“I- I don’t know” Joy said defeatedly, admitting to herself that she had officially ran out of ideas.

“Joy”! Sadness called before Disgust could moan about Joy’s lack of ideas. Joy suddenly turned around and rushed over to the core memory table where Fear was now stood holding one of the memories which was halfway to turning purple.

“Fear no”! Joy shouted, snatching the memory out of his hands. Tears suddenly filled his eyes making them go watery as if his tears were threatening to spill out.

“Hey don’t cry” Joy said gently before taking a purple memory out of the memory shelves, softly placing it in Fears hands while rubbing them , guiding him that he was allowed to hold it. His tears vanished as quickly as they had appeared.

Looking fascinated by the purple memory Joy walked off to the console. Fear then gazed at the other memories which were one the same shelf, he spotted a red one that seemed more interesting. Fear quickly replaced the purple memory with the red one that he shoved into his trouser pocket with a proud look on his face.

Fear walked over to Joy who was controlling the console. When she saw Fear poke his head around her shoulders she laughed softly before moving over so he could see all the levers and buttons.

Fears eyes widened before looking at each in button in excitement, as if he was wondering what each button did and if he could press any of them.

“There are so many buttons”! Fear exclaimed, jumping with amazement at how tempting the buttons were to press. “Can I press one”? Fear asked eagerly, rubbing his hands as if he was preparing himself for using the console.

Joy looked at Fear anxiously before calmly telling him that he wasn’t to touch anything as it was nearly time for Riley to go to school. Fear took three steps back from Joy and the console, a look of deep disappointment invading his facial expression as well as bending himself down slightly to show how he was feeling.

Although Joy had told Fear to stay away from the console Fear who had other ideas went towards the console again, this time with a sneaky facial expression.

Unable to contain his curiosity any longer Fear leaped up towards Joy before grabbing her hand asking her what it did before pressing it with Joy's finger on the button, causing Riley to laugh out loud in front of her whole Science class.

“Fear”! Joy exclaimed, becoming aware that the teacher was now cross with Riley along with asking her non stop questions to check if she had been listening. Fear shuffled back from the console with a guilty look on his face.

Joy sighed impatiently. “I told you not to press any buttons” Joy said, clearly annoyed at Fear and his new obsession to press buttons.

Fear whimpered. When the little noise he made didn't earn him a response he began to get frustrated.

“Sorry “! Fear spat, his frustration taking over his tone of voice. He ran over to hide behind the core memories, rocking back and forth as if he was about to be punished.

While Joy and the others were busy with the console Disgust had made her way into Anger’s room . Anger was sat on his lumpy bed, reading the latest issue of the mind reader.

“I hope your happy genius”! Disgust shouted, yanking the mind reader out of Angers hands.

“What”! Anger shouted back.

“Thanks to you Fear is acting so weird” Disgust moaned.

“What do you mean”? Anger’s low voice growled.

“Er let me see, first he doesn’t remember who he is let alone us, then he goes around touching the core memories and when he was shown an old dream of Jangles he laughed”!

 _He laughed. At Jangles? Oh boy this is bad._ Anger thought to himself anxiously.

“Yeah and now he is currently messing around with the console”! Disgust added before walking out huffing along with slamming Angers door shut with a good amount of force.

Anger turned his attention on the mind reader that had been tossed to the floor. He then got up from his bed and stomped over to Fear’s room. Noticing that Fear wasn’t there Anger gingerly sat down on the side of Fear’s bed, looking around his room as if was a museum.

Fear’s room was painted purple, his bed was neatly made with a cute teddy bear tucked into the duvet cover, the bears head resting on the pillow. Fear’s wardrobe was colour coded along with all his clipboards and notepads placed in a precise order from biggest to smallest on his desk. A night light was placed on the little table besides Fear’s bed a watch on the left hand side.

 _His room is the definition of organised,_ Anger thought to himself timidly before silently getting up and walking towards the door, taking one last look behind him while shutting the door without making a single noise.

Since Anger had been in Fear’s room Joy was getting ready to do dream duty . She jumped into the chair already prepared for what dream duty had in store for her. Her excitement stopped for a second when she thought about Fear and how herself , the other emotions and more importantly how Riley would cope until he got his memory back. Her excitement of dream duty soon crept back in, positive that Fear would be back to his scared self in no time.

Meanwhile Anger had just stomped back over to his room and got a shocking surprise to see Fear snuggled up in his bed. Taking this as an opportunity for him to help Fear he slowly got his hand, lightly shaking his shoulder which caused Fear to open one eye and zoom out of Anger’s bed.

Looking up at Fear Anger offered his hand to guide Fear to his room.

“Don’t touch me”! Fear shrieked , slapping Angers hand away. Anger then saw the red memory ball that Fear was clutching in his hands as if it was something top secret. Fear soon noticed Anger staring at the memory and became protective of it.  
“Where did you get that”? Anger asked calmly.

“It's mine and you’re not having it”! Fear shouted, backing away from Anger as if he was a burglar.

“Shh” Anger hissed with more force than he intended to use.

Fear whimpered making Anger feel horrible inside. He tried to get a bit closer to Fear but he backed away before adding, “get away from me, I’m not supposed to talk to you”!

Anger felt hurt even if he wasn’t emotional enough to show it. “Who told you that”? Anger asked, trying to keep his guilt at the very back of his mind.

Fear tilted his head to the left . “The green girl”! Fear exclaimed, feeling proud of himself that he remembered.

 _Of course. It would be her!_ Anger thought to himself in irritation.

Shaking himself out of his long list of thoughts Anger offered to take Fear to his own room, however Fear needed some convincing.

“If you come with me I’ll let you sleep with the memory ball” Anger offered which earned him a small smile from Fear ,Anger softly took Fear’s hand before leading him to his own room.

Fear had been tempted to investigate the other emotions rooms a couple of times throughout their journey to fear’s room , Anger had been reminding him of the deal which dragged Fear’s curiosity away. Once he was in his own room Anger felt an urge to tuck him into bed. Fear had already got into bed and snuggled up in his duvet cover, still holding the red memory ball in his hands like a teddy bear. If Anger had Joys personality he would be tempted to jump up and down in adoration of how cute Fear looked.

“Goodnight Fear” Anger said, his low voice soothing Fear. Fear did not respond as he had already began to snore.

Anger left the room silently, a nice tingling feeling going down his spine. Walking over to his bedroom and quietly getting into his own bed Anger thought to himself.

_So this is how it feels to be positive about the future. From now on I am going to make sure that Fear feels safe around me, afterall I created this mess therefore i must be the one to pick up the pieces and put them back together._


	3. I know him so well

Anger woke up the following morning, a weird and awkward sensation of pleasure mixed with guilt lurking in his conscious. Rubbing his eyes and yawning Anger managed to force himself out of bed before poking his round round his bedroom door.

Anger noticed that Fear was nowhere to be seen. Just thinking about Fear made the disturbing memory of him punching Fear incredibly hard in the stomach was eating at him.

It suddenly crept up on him how the little things about Fear that annoyed him in the past were now his only reminders of the real Fear. Anger missed the way Fear used to hum when he was walking to bed or in a rare calm state, he also missed how Fear used to be scared easily even if it was by seeing his own shadow. In fact it was safe to say that he even missed the times when Fear clinged on to him whenever he was absolutely petrified.

Now the only similarity between the real and the present Fear was the body they shared. Even that had been damaged along with Fears memory, his body was covered in bruises especially his stomach and the back of his head.

The worst part of all was the fact that Fear was no longer aware of his purpose to Riley. He didn't know his true value even if Anger had questioned about his loyalty in the past, however looking back now he could have been a bit more opened minded when it came to Fear and his existence.

Before Anger could think about anything else he heard Sadness sobbing, he stomped over to where the noise was coming from. He soon saw Joy , Disgust , Sadness and Fear all in Disgusts room.

“What’s going on”? Anger asked, his low voice slightly croaky.

“It’s the hockey match of the season today”! Sadness wailed.

“It is”? Anger asked, slightly confused.

Disgust huffed.

“Yeah and we will do great”! Joy exclaimed positively.

“Er we would if we weren't one emotion short”! Disgust snapped jabbing a finger at Fear, her glare fixed on Anger.

“Why she pointing at me”? Fear whimpered almost silently.

“Guys we can do this, just think positive”! Joy said, her patience starting to wear thin.

“But without Fear how is Riley supposed to dodge the opposition's attempts to bring her down”! Sadness cried, tears bursting out from her eyes.

Joy sighed impatiently. “ We will just have to improvise”.

“Improvise”! Anger shouted before adding, “That’s impossible”!

“We wouldn’t need to if someone _mentioning no names_ had kept his temper under control”,Disgust said spitefully.

“Can't you just let that go “,Anger shouted. His eyes widening with guilt.

“No we can’t, your tiny brain doesn’t seem to realise what your foolish actions have done” Disgust snapped.

By this time Fear had wondered off to avoid the noise unnoticed. Meanwhile Anger and the other emotions had walked over to the console, Disgust and Anger continuing their argument.

“Don’t you think I feel bad about that”! Anger growled.

“Well sometimes I wonder”! Disgust spat furiously.

Embers were sizzling on Angers head, ready to explode any second. However the other emotions stares had caught Angers attention. He turned around to where the other emotions were staring at to reveal Fear standing behind Anger. “What's that”? Fear asked curiously before poking the top of Angers head, the other emotions gasped at Angers level of calmness.

Anger jerked away from Fear’s prodding finger. “Minor glitch” Anger murmured, his low voice as calm as it could ever be. Fear looked at him in confusion.

To lead everyone away from the awkward atmosphere Joy clapped her hands and exclaimed “let's play some hockey”! Before running to the console and slamming her hand on a big yellow button, the other emotions followed except Fear.

As Riley was on her way to the rink the emotions were getting into their positions at the console some more ready than others to do their job. On the other hand Fear who was standing near the core memories, still clutching the red memory ball looking at the other emotions with a bored facial expression.

Sadness kept giving quick glances towards Fear which went unnoticed until Joy caught her, concern filling her mind.

“Sadness what are you doing”? Joy whispered to her none of the other emotions could hear her.

“I'm worried Joy, this could go horribly wrong” Sadness whispered back.

Joy knew deep down that Sadness was right as she was about many things, however she had to stay positive about it even if she was secretly beginning to lose hope of the hockey match going well.

“I know but just follow my lead” Joy replied in a whisper. It will be just fine Joy thought to herself.

“Ok” was the last sentence Sadness could say before the referee announced that the match was about to begin.

“We can do this guys”! Joy shouted before the whistle blew signaling that the game had begun.

While Riley was skating around the rink determined to win no matter what happened her emotions were struggling to get themselves together which soon was having an impact on Riley’s performance.

“Were losing focus”! Disgust cried, desperately reaching for any lever to pull or button to press.

“No”! Anger yelled as a member from the opposite team had viciously taken the puck off Riley.

“Time to accept failure” Sadness mumbled, her voice wobbling with stress.

“No, we can do this just stay positive and focus”! Joy exclaimed, not coping with the other emotions negativity.

As the match went to a break the emotions except Fear were at the console moaning at how badly they had done at their jobs.

“Uh that wasn’t what I had in mind” Joy stated, her tone of voice drained from her usual positivity .

“Not to mention everybody's looking at us and not in a good way” Disgust yelled which made Fear who was still standing with the core memories flinch.

“Oh for crying out loud we all need to pull ourselves together” Anger snarled under his breath which Disgust heard.

“That’s what we're trying to do genius”! Disgust retorted angrily.

“Guys can we stop arguing this isn't going to help”! Joy shouted which got the other emotions attention.

“Uh Joy”? Sadness asked in a small voice which Joy responded to with a nod of approval for Sadness to carry on.

“The reason why we're failing is because Riley isn’t dodging away from the opposition” Sadness stated which left Joy , Anger and Disgust with something to think about for a second.

“But she won’t be able to without Fear…” Joy trailed off in realisation that Fear had to take part, with or without memory.

“How, he can’t even remember his own name let alone his purpose” Disgust moaned which caught Fears attention. He scowled at her furiously.

“We have no choice as pretending to be Fear just isn't an option “ Anger commented.

“Anger’s right, we need him”! Joy cried before looking behind her to where Fear was standing, unaware of her staring at him.

“Fear come here” Joy called, however Fear didn't budge. Joy suddenly remembered yesterdays fiasco about Fear and his desire to press buttons.

“You get to press buttons” Joy cheered earning her a smile from Fear who walked over to the console with a proud look on his face.

“Uh Joy aren't your forgetting that he can’t be in control as he has no memory”? Disgust commented spitefully, glaring at the yellow emotion.

Before Joy could respond Fear interrupted. “Well Joy said I could be over here so there”! Fear said in a cheeky tone leaving Disgust shocked and Anger grinning in delight.

Joy and Sadness on the other hand saw where Disgust was coming from.

“Why don’t we all guide him on what button to press of which lever to pull” Sadness suggested which got Joy’s approval.

“Good idea”! Joy exclaimed before adding, “now all we have to decide on is who will guide him”

“I will” Anger replied almost instantly.

The other emotions were stunned at Anger’s volunteering to help Fear for a single second before being l shaken out of their thoughts as the referee announced that the ten minute break was over.

“Come on gang let's do this and remember think positive”! Joy cheered.

“Yeah I’m positive that Anger will mess this up” Disgust mumbled to herself.

When the second half of the hockey match had begun Joy and Sadness had started to worry about Riley losing the match even if both teams had the same amount of scores.

Meanwhile Anger had so far been successful with guiding Fear. A fresh feeling of happiness filling Angers heart at the fact that Fear wasn’t afraid of working with him, it didn’t stop Anger from feeling a tiny bit weird as well.

The best thing that was coming from Fear and Anger’s teamwork was the amount of improvement it made on Riley’s confidence to perform to her best ability towards the most important hockey match of the year.

However Anger was dragged away from his thoughts as he and the other emotions were informed by Joy that there was only ten minutes of the match left with the scores being four all.

“We need to win Joy” Sadness stated, her voice wobbling just thinking about terror of losing and the team hating her for it..

“That’s what we're trying to do” Disgust retorted.

“Guys please focus”! Joy cried out in frustration. The other emotions fell silent immediately.

Suddenly all the emotions noticed the puck being passed to Riley who was near the goal ready to score.

“Oh no , we're gonna fail”! Sadness wailed.

“Not on my watch”! Anger said sternly.

However as the other emotions were preparing themselves for the worst they hadn’t noticed one of the players from the opposite team skating towards Riley with a look a pure determination to get the puck off of her.

Before the other emotions could react Fear got his hand and moved it towards a lever, Anger turned towards Fear noticing what he was about to do. Anger suddenly pressed the green button just as Fear had leaned on the lever causing Riley to quickly skate to her left before swinging her hockey stick and scoring a goal.

The crowd in the background were all stood up and cheering louder than Riley had ever imagined they could cheer, it had suddenly occurred to her that she had scored the winning goal as the referee declared that the Foghorns had won the match. All of Riley’s team mates picked her up while bouncing her up and down and cheering as loud as they could . In headquarters the emotions too were cheering especially Anger who was tempted to give Fear a big hug.

“You did it Fear”! Joy said enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around each emotion demanding that everyone joined in for a group hug. The hug was cut short when the emotions heard a clunking noise.

“It's a core memory” Sadness said before the other emotions ran up to it.

“It's purple and red” Disgust said in disgust.

“It’s a core memory between Anger and Fear”! Joy squealed causing Fear to cringe at her high pitched tone while Anger smiled to himself .

Joy skipped over to the core memory table and watched as the purple and red core memory made its way to a slot in the table to join the other core memories. This caused hockey island to increase in size which pleased all the emotions especially Joy and Anger.

“This Reminds me of the time in the twisty tree” Sadness stated. Joy bounced up and down at the happy flashback of the memory replaying in her mind.

“Everyone was enjoying themselves , cheering and laughing. But this time it feels different , better even” Joy said, her eyes glowing with the blissful feeling of victory.

“That’s because our girl is the player of the match”! Anger cheered.

“And we owe it to Fear” Joy added, twirling around the other emotions.

Fear stood next to Anger with a full beam spreading across his lips.

“You should be proud of yourself kid” Anger said to Fear who’s smile got even wider.

As the marvelous day came to an end the emotions apart from Disgust who was assigned dream duty went off to bed. Disgust pulled a face as she watched each of them leave.

In the middle of the night Anger was woken up to the sounds of Fear’s screaming. He nearly rushed out of his bed to see to him, however he did slow down the pace of his movement before opening the door to Fear’s room.

“Hey kid what’s the matter”? Anger asked gently to a sniffling Fear.

“Angus”? Fear asked cautiously.

 _It’s Anger but that's close enough,_ Anger thought to himself before shaking himself from his thoughts and back to reality.

“What’s happened eh”? Anger tried again in the same tone of voice.

“N-nightmare” Fear mumbled, showing no signs of giving Anger eye contact or coming out from under his duvet.

Anger could see sections of the real Fear blossom from the Fear who has no current memory, this didn't mean that Fear was ever going to himself again. But this wasn’t going to stop Anger from giving up hope, he wasn’t the sort of emotion to quit when something tough challenged him.

“Wait there kid, I have something that may calm you down” Anger said, before going over to where Fear used to make himself a coffee.

After a few minutes Anger placed a warm mug in Fears hands. “It will help you to relax, _it usually does”_ Anger said in a calm tone to encourage Fear to take a sip. He gave the mug a puzzled look.

“It looks and smells revolting” Fear commented, pulling a face at the mug.

“Just try it” Anger replied, his low toned voice soothing Fear into trying a bit of the coffee.

“Ugh that's foul “! Fear exclaimed as he took a sip and grimaced at the taste of it.

 _Oh great now even his nerve settling comfort drink doesn’t do him any favors._  Anger thought to himself in shame.

“Yeah I suppose it is petty rank” Anger replied, trying to keep Fear calm around him.

Stuck with the awkward silence Anger who tried not to admit it too much was relieved to have a minutes silence as in his words there was less to get wrong which lead to less mistakes to be made. The less mistakes the better Anger thought to himself.

Once the silence became too much to handle Anger broke by telling Fear that he could go back to sleep. Anger was about to get up when Fear clinged on to his hand, causing Anger to sit back down.

“ Don’t leave” Fear whimpered.

“I'm right here” Anger reassured. His fingers entwining with Fears, this made Fear wriggle before looking at Anger, his facial expression a portrait of the word serious.

“You wouldn't ever hurt me would you?” Fear asked, his blurted out question touching a raw nerve in Anger’s conscious.

“No, course not” Anger responded, his voice shaky and desperately trying to ignore the increasing lump in his throat as he spoke.

_If only he knew._

“Oh good I knew you wouldn't “! Fear exclaimed, his antenna flipping upwards with glee while embracing Anger in a big hug. Angers heart skipped a beat at the amount of trust Fear had in him.

 _Oh I have kid and I never want to do it again._ Was the painfully truthful thought that haunted Angers mind.

Anger was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of snoring coming from Fear. Anger slowly and steadily got up off of Fear’s bed, being careful not to wake him. The red emotion got his duvet cover and lightly pulled it over him with half a smile on his lips. Before leaving Fear to get some rest Anger whispered to him.

 _“Don’t worry kid I know I haven't been the best example of a great friend, but let this be a promise to you that I will take care of you no matter what”._ Anger then left the room and silently shut the door.

“I will take care of you no matter what”. Was the sniggered sentence of his that Anger had heard being mimicked as he was walking towards his bedroom, he turned around to see the green emotion with an evil grin on her face.

“What”! Anger growled.

“Oh nothing, I just thought how funny it is that you suddenly care about your beloved Fear when before you didn’t give a toss” Disgust hissed.

“Well I’m a changed emotion” Anger replied, a glare of pure hatred forming in Angers eyes.

“Changed emotion! Oh please we all know you can’t keep a cool head for more than five seconds” Disgust spat, Anger made sure that her devious mind games wouldn't get to him.

“I think you’ll find that I have managed to keep my cool and not to mention being able to earn respect from the others especially Fear” Anger argued calmly,proving to himself and even Fear that Disgust wasn’t going to be the one to tear him apart.

Disgust decided to take it a whole step further. She bent down to Anger’s level and whispered into his ear.

“Ok seeing as you’re the one who Fear relies on to be a great friend why don’t you tell him about the real Anger. You know the true monster that's hiding behind this fake love and kindness, let's see how much respect Fear would have for you then”.

Disgust walked away, a proud facial expression invading her smug look.

Anger on the other hand looked anything but proud. He forced himself to admit the fact that he was genuinely scared of the truth behind Disgusts evil and manipulative talk. How much respect would Fear have for a total monster like me? Anger shuddered from the thought of Fear hating him for what he truly was, Anger’s heart was still pounding from the shock of what had just happened. His eyes brimming with the tears of sorrow that had crept up on him like a wild animal hunting for its prey. Anger rubbed at his exhausted eyes, forcing the tears to be jammed into his eyes without a single one leaking out. He wouldn't let the broccoli despising emotion anguish him, after all Anger wasn’t the sort to give in to the challenges life throws at him .

 _I will prove that wicked woman along with the rest that I can stay true to my word and keep my cool around Fear. He won’t ever again have to come face to face with the monster that once ruled my mind._ Anger snarled to himself in determination, his fists clenched.

Anger took himself off to bed ready for what the next day had in store for him.


	4. Drifting

Fear woke up early the following morning. His eyes darting around his room as if he was trapped in a cage. He then crawled out of his bed and carefully opened his bedroom door to find headquarters empty.

Fear slowly walked over to the console without pressing anything. He looked at the seat where Disgust had previously been while doing her shift of dream duty.

He went over to where the day's memories would usually be. Seeing that it was empty Fear kneeled down on to the floor and started to roll the red memory ball that he had held on to for many days across the shelfs in excitement. On the other hand Disgust had in her own words been rudely awakened by the repetitive clunking noise that was echoing in headquarters.

Disgust huffed before dragging herself out of bed. She opened her bedroom door to find Fear near the empty memory shelf making the irritating noise that had been more quieter through her bedroom walls. She winced at the sound before clearing her throat, making Fear jump.

“What do you think you're doing”? Disgust demanded, her eyes squinting at Fear.

“Go away” Fear responded with a scowl.

Disgust rolled her eyes. As she took a step closer towards Fear he backed away almost instantly.

“I don’t like you, your mean” Fear whimpered.

Disgust huffed before an idea popped up in her head. “Hey I can be nice when I want to be“ Disgust said with the forced sweetness in her voice.

“How”? Fear asked cautiously.

“ Just follow me” Disgust replied. A sly look invading her facial features.

“Why”? Fear questioned in the same tone of voice.

“Well what I should be asking you is do you want to see something really interesting”? Disgust cheered in her own dull bitter tone.

Fear’s eyes widened a little with curiosity.  
“Oh and did I forget to mention about Anger being part of this”?

Fears eyes light up with delight at hearing Angers name.

“Show me”! Fear exclaimed which pleased Disgust.

“Okay firstly let me borrow that memory ball, it's important if you want to see Anger” Disgust explained with mock kindness.

Fear handed over the memory ball before looking at Disgust who had placed the memory ball on the empty shelf.

“ Stand over here” Disgust said, helping Fear to walk over to the center of headquarters.

“Are you ready “? Disgust asked sweetly which Fear responded too with a simple nod.

“Then away we go _or rather away you go_ ” Disgust exclaimed.

She pressed a big blue button near the core memory shelves causing the red memory ball to roll across all the levels of metal shelves before disappearing into the recall tube.

“My memory ball”! Fear screamed before he was sucked into the tube and sent away to long term memory.

“My work here is officially done” Disgust said under her breath before adding “let's see how you take that Anger”.

A couple of hours later all the emotions were woken up to the sobs of Sadness. When each emotion came to see Sadness stood next to the tube Disgust had sent Fear into. Tears pouring from Sadnesses eyes as if to create the headquarters its very own river.

“Fear’s gone”! Sadness wailed, wiping tears away with her sleeve.

“What, how”? Joy asked before running up to the recall tube, her eyes darting around it as if she was waiting for it to return Fear.

“He must have got sucked up into long term memory” Sadness replied, her voice wobbling with more tears threatening to spill.  
“Oh no he must have been messing around with the buttons again” Joy said before letting out a huge sigh of disappointment.

Disgust huffed while Anger glared at the recall tube.

“Someone will have to go and get him” Joy concluded firmly.

“Why don’t you go look for him Anger” Disgust suggested with a hint of forced kindness in her usual sarcastic tone.

Anger then focused his glare on Disgust, noticing the fake sweetness that was corrupting her voice.

“He likes you the most” Joy added in her positive tone of voice that made Anger’s confidence rise a little.

“Alright I’m going I’m going” Anger growled.

“Good luck” Sadness added while giving Anger on of her weak waves.

Anger signalled Joy to press the blue button which sucked Anger up to long term memory.

His glare fixed on Disgust who was also waving at him as if he wasn’t to return. How much should I bet that Disgust had something to do with this! Anger snarled to himself before being spat out from the tube and into an empty memory tub.

Anger picked himself up before walking over to one memory shelf after another in search for his purple friend. Having walked past numerous amounts of memory shelves Anger was starting to get frustrated.

“Oh where could he be” Anger muttered to himself.

Suddenly Anger heard a clanking noise towards his left. He in his version of running went over to where he could hear the sound, it had become louder which revealed Fear standing a frightening four centimeters away from the memory dump.

“Fear “! Anger called, causing Fear to look up from the memory balls he was currently holding. A smile filling his facial features at the thrill of seeing his red friend. Anger was more than willing to go over to him. As he got closer Fear ran up to him, squeezing him into a long hug.  
“I knew you would turn up eventually”! Fear exclaimed, keeping his firm grip onto Anger’s shoulders.

“W-what do you mean”? Anger asked, his low voice slightly scaring Fear.

Fear began to shake. “Disgust said that she would show me something interesting and that you were part of it too” Fear began, Anger then thought to himself I knew she had something to do with this!

Fear noticed Angers irritated facial expression.

“But she lied”... Fear trailed off, not making eye contact with Anger. His arms slipping away from Angers, shame spreading across his face as if he was about to cry. Anger couldn't bare to see him like this.

“Hey don’t cry I’m not mad at you” Anger soothed. Fear looked up at him, his shame disappearing.

“Really”? Fear questioned as if to confirm that Anger was being honest with him.

“Course I am come here” Anger said, this time he offered the hug that Fear was more than pleased to accept.

After a couple of minutes Anger broke the hug. “Come on we should be getting back” Anger said before gesturing to Fear to follow him. Instead Fear had other ideas.

“Do we have to go back”? Fear moaned before adding “can’t we stay for a bit longer”?

Anger had to admit to himself that throughout the past few days this would have to be the most spectacular but strange thing Fear had said since that dark day.

“Erm I..” Anger stammered before getting interrupted.

“Please” Fear begged, Anger couldn't resist Fears cuteness.

“Oh alright” Anger gave in earning a huge grin from his purple friend.

“Yay”! Fear exclaimed before rushing off to imagination land. Shaking his head softly Anger could have sworn that Fear had swapped personalities with Joy.

“Wait for me”! Anger called while quickly walking to catch up with Fear.  
“Come on slow coach”! Fear cheered who was stood next to the french frie forest, munching on one.

Anger chucked as he was unexpectedly chucked a french frie. “Its for you”! Fear explained. Anger happily ate it, causing Fear to grin once again.

Fear continued wandering around imagination land. His eyes wide with excitement of all the amazing things that were in front of him. Once Anger had managed to catch up with his purple friend, he noticed Fear was stood in trophy town going through all of them.

Before he was able to question his actions Fear had walked over to the shorter emotion before handing him a rather large first prize trophy. Anger’s eyes widened with surprise.

“It's a first prize award for being the bestest friend ever”! Fear exclaimed happily. On the other hand Anger looked anything but happy. He was grateful for the fact that Fear liked him, however he couldn't help but think back to what Disgust had said to him the previous night.

Oh Fear you wouldn't think this if you knew the monster that once ruled over me. Was Angers thought before the lump that had formed in his throat began to loosen up. Anger forced himself to smile before putting the trophy back and returning to follow Fear who was way ahead of him.

“Come on Anger “! Fear called, gesturing him to come over to cloud town. Anger came as quickly as his short legs could carry him before being passed a gracefully floating cloud that was as soft as cotton wool.

Floating on his soft cloud he managed to catch up with Fear who was smiling at him. “The view is so beautiful” Fear commented. “It sure is, Riley has a creative mind” Anger added.

All of a sudden Anger felt his hand slowly moving towards Fears, his short stubby fingers wrapping around Fears long scrawny ones. It was at that particular moment Anger realised that he and fear were drifting through friendship island which must have been having this weird effect on him. Although to his admitted it felt right and if he dared say it, pleasurable. The warmth of each other's hands was adding to the already peaceful atmosphere which Anger could only react with a grin which soon afterwards was spread to Fear.

“This is nice” Fear said, his body language and tone of voice relaxed which relaxed Anger in the process.

“I agree” the red emotion slurred before shaking himself from his thoughts as he felt himself slipping off the cloud.

Realizing that he and Fear were now stood near a recall tube Anger announced that it was time to head back to headquarters, this time Fear didn’t plead to stay longer.

Once they had taken the recall tube they were greeted with a mixture of facial expressions. Joy was smiling while Sadness was more calm and content. However it was Disgusts that had caught their attention the most. Her facial expression was a portrait of the word bitter, her eyes glaring at Anger with pure hatred.

“You guys took your time” Disgust said, her eyes not blinking once.

“Er it just took a while to get back” Anger responded, his voice as calm as he could manage.

“Yeah right” Disgust retorted making Fear flinch before adding, “you were probably too busy mucking around” she added, her dull tone making Anger clench his fists.

“Well at least were all back to work”! Joy said, interrupting the heated atmosphere that had been created between Anger and Disgust.

Disgust responded with a huff before turning around to leave. She was soon stopped by Anger’s firm grip, leaving a just as angry red mark behind on her arm.

“What”! Disgust hissed.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you're up to Missy” Anger hissed back, scowling at the green emotion.

“Whatever “ Disgust said, flipping her hair before walking off. Anger growled while Fear blew a raspberry. This made Disgust stop her journey before tossing her head, ignoring Fears level of disrespect. I bet he learned that from a certain midget Disgust huffed to herself.

All Anger could do was chuckle at Fear’s response, loving her far he would go to stick up for him. _It's more than you’ve ever done for him,_ a little voice in Anger’s head spat, reminding him of the numerous times that he had failed to be fair towards the purple emotion.

 _Get lost!_ Anger snarled under his breath, hitting himself on the head before returning to his usual state of mind.

  
As Riley was about to fall asleep after yet another perfect day Joy announced that Anger was on dream duty .

“Oh great” Anger mumbled to himself while the female emotions went to their rooms. However Fear was stood a few steps from the chair Anger was sat on, wanting to jump onto the chair to sit with the red emotion .

Fear was startled to then find Anger’s gaze on him. “Hello, what are you doing just standing there”? Anger asked calmly.

“I can’t sleep” Fear whimpered before adding, “can I join you”?

“Yes of course” Anger replied, his tone getting softer as he gently patted the chair he had been sat on, gesturing to Fear that he should sit down. Fear was more than happy to rush over and sit next to his best friend as Anger pulled up another chair for himself. If Anger was honest with himself he was glad Fear came to him about his problems,he was fully aware that the old Fear would never have set foot near him, especially not for something as common as sleeping problems.

“What you doing”? Fear asked eagerly, a smile invading his facial features in delight.

“Dream duty” Anger replied before adding, “why don’t you turn the console on to dream mode”.

Fear did as he was told. His lips still wide with the smile that was still on his lips which made Anger smile too. He never knew smiles could be that catchy.

The dream that came up on the screen was an average dream that didn’t impress the two emotions, instead they were more focused on each other. At that moment Fear’s head was slowly leaning towards Anger’s chest, his sleepy eyes debating whether to stay open or to be fully shut. Anger on the other hand wasn’t bothered either way, _as long as Fear’s happy , I’m happy._

When Fear could no longer keep his eyes open, Anger began to stroke his head. His long soft strokes soothing Fear into a peaceful slumber, little snores being the evidence of the loving comfort that Anger was more than willing to carry on giving until he could no longer stay awake himself. Shifting to his right Anger brought his arm round Fear as if to protect him from the many dangers he could face. Suddenly without warning Anger leaned into Fear and kissed the top of his head. His soft lips in contact with Fear’s forehead sending a feeling of pleasure warming his heart. Gently rubbing Fear’s head Anger closed his eyes, drifting off into the sweet world of slumber as if to join Fear in his relaxed state of mind .

Little did he know that Disgust was poking her head round her bedroom door, sniggering at how ridiculous she thought they both looked. The volume of her sniggering increased when she caught Anger kissing Fear’s head. _Oh boy do I have something good on him now._ Disgust thought to herself proudly before flouncing off to bed with a smirk on her face.

Meanwhile Anger had only let himself be the victim of the urge to sleep for a minute before he whispered to himself, I _told you that I would do a better job and what a good start we’ve made eh?_

Even though Anger still had a little uncomfortable feeling of doubt playing tricks on him, tonight he was just going to treasure the moment and toss all his dark thoughts to the very back of his mind.


	5. Anger in wonderland

At half past three in the morning Anger stirred, Fears head still placed on the shorter emotions lap. He could hear Fear breathing gently, every time he breathed out a small amount of breath tickled Angers cheek causing a small breeze on his red skin. 

Looking around the dark headquarters Anger rubbed his eyes and struggled to sit up ,his stiff back aching. The shorter emotion was extra careful as to not waking up Fear who was still fast asleep fidgeting a little in between Anger’s movements. 

Anger sighed softly. Once again he cradled Fear in his arms before letting go just as suddenly. His breathing became slightly heavier, dots of sweat forming on his forehead. He wiped it away in frustration.

“It's time you went to your proper bed” Anger whispered to Fear who was still lightly snoring on Anger’s lap. The shorter emotion carefully picked up Fear and gently tossed him onto his shoulder, being extra careful in case of waking him up or worse in his mind hurting him. Again.

Once Anger had got Fear safely to his own room he gently lowered him down onto the bed, a little startled when Fear snorted before turning to his left hand side. Satisfied that Fear was still as happily asleep as before Anger left the room silently, looking back once more at the relaxed purple emotion before shutting the door. 

“Hello Anger” a little voice said, just loud enough for Anger to hear.

“Who’s there”! Anger nearly exclaimed before thinking of Fear.  
“Aren't you supposed to be doing dream duty”? the small voice said which was revealed to be Sadness. 

“Err yeah” Anger stammered attempting to walk away from her, however Sadness followed.

“What were you doing in Fear’s room”? Sadness asked.

Anger was tempted to tell her to mind her own business, but somehow he didnt have the courage to so he reluctantly sat down onto the pink sofa and explained his situation to her. To his advantage Sadness was more than willing to listen to Angers problems.

“I … Well since that day I punched Fear so hard that he lost his memory I haven’t been feeling right” was all he could manage to say.

“How haven’t you been feeling right”? Sadness asked, digging deeper into Anger’s personal thoughts.

“Well whenever I see or speak to Fear all I feel is self hatred, guilt and dare I say it scared”.

Sadness looked at him in disbelief, knowing that there was more than what Anger was letting her on to. Anger caught her gaze and growled.

“Ugh fine there is one more feeling…” Anger hesitated, embarrassed about telling someone about the real him.

“Go on”,were the only words she needed if any.

“Okay I get this weird feeling that all I want to do is protect him from all the dangers, wanting to cuddle him for eternity. I mean darn it I even kissed him on the head Sadness, what's wrong with me”! Anger exclaimed.

Sadness let out a tiny smile of sympathy. “Have you ever erm, considered that you might like him, well more than a friend”? 

Her question was like a repetitive punch in the stomach for the shorter emotion, absolutely stunned that she would even suggest the idea. Anger then lowered his head considering whether Sadness had actually made him see sense and found his inner feelings that had been buried into the deepest part of himself to finally escape after many years of being slammed away.  
“I… I don’t know” Anger stammered, desperately wanting to be left alone to his own devices to think it through by himself.

“Ok well I’m going to leave you to think about it. But remember it's not too late to tell him”. Sadness said her final words gently causing a fluttering sensation in Anger’s stomach. 

The red emotion fell back into the dream duty chair, staring at his lap that had been occupied by Fear’s head. A shaky breath was let loose from the shorter emotion, the fluttery feeling in his stomach getting stronger.

Leaning back on the chair Anger’s mind was jam packed with all sorts of thoughts about Fear, his job of dream duty completely shoved aside for what was left from the remains of the night.


	6. Tough life

The ear bleeding screams from Fear caused a shock to Anger's System as he practically leaped out of his bed. His bedroom door burst open before the shorter emotion in his version ran across to Fear's Room, unsure of what to expect.

Anger slowly opened Fear's bedroom door to reveal an empty bed with the duvet tossed to the right hand side. His pillow face down on the floor with the violently shaking , whimpering ball of purple under his bed rocking back and forth when he made eye contact with the red emotion.

"Hey kid" Anger said softly.

All of a sudden Fear jumped onto Anger's lap, wrapping his arms over the red emotions while embracing him in a short hug. His grip squeezing the red emotion, making it difficult for him to breathe. When Fear did let go his quick sentence was just a jumble of words.

Anger held up his red hand before saying " hey calm down, what's wrong kid"?

Fear looked up at the red emotion, his lips wobbling along with his eyes watering. "Nightmare" he managed to whimper out before hiding himself again.

Anger gently cupped Fear's face in his hands. "Tell me" was all he said.

"I-it w-was about … you" Fear whispered, turning his head away in remorse.

This made Anger jump, debating with himself whether he wanted to know more or not. Before he got to decide Fear had carried on talking.

"In my dreams you.. you … hurt me" Fear whispered, squeezing his eyes shut.

However out of the two of them Anger was the most affected, his eyes widened with the shock of the dreadful memory playing back in his head. He felt his heart rate increasing along with his breathing, his own eyes getting watery. He then unexpectedly cradled Fear in his arms, making Fear jump at first before snuggling into Anger's chest.

"I-I don't know how or why, you just hurt me…" Fear murmured into Anger's shoulder.

Anger took a deep breath. "Do you think that I would ever hurt you" Anger said, a lump forming inside his throat, making it difficult to talk.

"I don't know"! Fear wailed, flapping his hands.

"Shh" Anger soothed, softly grabbing Fear's eyes before adding "I would never hurt you, please believe me…" Anger trailed off, rubbing Fears back to comfort him.

"Okay" the purple emotion sniffled. "Thank you" he added before letting go and crawling back on to his bed.

"Anytime kid" Anger responded before leaving the purple emotion to his own devices.

However later that day Anger had noticed that his purple friend still hadn't fully recovered from his upsetting dream, it left him wondering if he actually believed what he had said to him at all.

 _Should I really blame him? I mean I practically lied to the kids face all because I didn't have the courage to tell him the truth!_ Anger thought to himself out of pure anger mixed with shame.

Anger had walked up to Fear to simply say goodnight, not convinced that the purple emotion was as alright as he made out to be, judging by the simple "night" he had received in a glum tone. What was even more alarming was the fact that Fear hadn't even asked for a hug or anything to do with Anger for that matter, which left an empty feeling inside the red emotions conscious.

Anger rubbed at his forehead, his facial expression spelling out the word worried. The red emotion took a deep breath before facing up to the challenge that lay ahead of him tomorrow.

When tomorrow finally arrived, Angers theory of Fear still being uncomfortable with him was proved right when the purple emotion seemed to distance himself from him.

"Hey Fear I-" Anger was cut off when Fear mumbled out a "hi bye" before scuttling off to his room, locking the door.

"Uh what just happened?" Anger said to himself, unaware that Joy and Sadness were stood behind him.

"We were just about to ask the same question " Joy said, making Anger jump just as Fear would. Anger grumbled to himself in embarrassment.

"Is everything ok between you two?" Sadness asked. Her deep blue eyes giving a steady gaze at the red emotion, waiting for his reply which seemed to take longer than usual.

"Er yeah fine" Anger mumbled before stomping off, leaving the star and the tear drop confused.

Anger who was now more than a few steps away from the two emotions stopped in his tracks to find Disgust standing near his bedroom door.

"Get out the way"! Anger snarled before he was dragged away by the green emotions arm.

"Had a little fall out did you?" Disgust said in mock kindness.

"No" Anger mumbled before adding with a firm tone "wait a minute you haven't told him anything have you!"

"Er no! Why would I waste my time doing that?" Disgust retorted, walking off into the distance with a huff.

Anger gave the broccoli hating emotion an evil glare.

About to open his bedroom door Anger was horribly surprised when he heard the other emotions whispers in the background. As soon as he heard his name mentioned he snapped his head round, waiting for them to spill the beans about him.

"What's up between Anger and Fear?"

"Do you think they had a falling out or something? "

"They're probably just being morons as usual"

" That's sad"

"I hope they make up soon"

"I wouldn't hold you breath on that one Joy, Anger will just mess it up as always!"

All of a sudden the three female emotions were encountered by Anger who was stomping over to them, his fists balled ready to punch something.

"What did you say!" Anger shouted.

Disgust didn't look remotely scared. "I'd tell you but you're too dumb to understand!"

Anger glared at the green emotion in hatred. "Look I am not in the mood for this!" Anger spat, gritting his teeth.

"Uh too bad because you have a lot to answer for" Disgust retorted before Joy interrupted .

"Guys now really isn't the time for arguments." Joy said in attempt to break up something that could escalate into a fight at any moment.

"Are you challenging me!" Anger shouted, completely ignoring Joy's polite request.

"Yeah if you like!" Disgust responded,her teeth also clenched.

"Try me!" Anger challenged fiercely.

"Er guys this really isn't helping" Sadness said, trying her best to lighten up the atmosphere. Her efforts went unrewarded as both Disgust and Anger took no notice of her pleading.

"Well where do we start? First you have a temper tantrum over maths homework like some toddler, then we get a detention for the following day!" Disgust began before getting cut off.

"I only did it to teach that fool a lesson!" Anger retorted without the presence of his usual embers.

"Well some lesson that was. All that taught us was how to cause someone to lose their memory!" Disgust replied spitefully, one of her hands placed on her hip while the other one poking at Anger's shoulder.

"I didn't exactly plan that part" Anger growled, his eyes downcast.

"Exactly! You don't plan anything. All you do is throw a hissy fit when things don't go your way !" Disgust shouted, pointing a vicious finger at Anger who now had embers sizzling on the top of his head.

"That's ridiculous!" Anger yelled, his eyes going a deeper colour of red.

"Oh no I'll tell you what's ridiculous. It the fact that you think you can fool everyone including Fear into thinking that you actually feel guilty about your actions."

"Oh yeah, prove it!" Anger challenged.

Disgust developed an evil gleam in her eye. "Okay let's start with the fact that you smother him in fake love and kindness, you then have the guts to turn Fear against me when it should have been him turning against you. As am I right in recalling that you were the one who punched him during another one of your raging episodes?" Disgust sneered.

"Well I-"

"Then during the night you sneak off to Fear's room just to tell him some garbage about you changing and being the best buddy you can be."

"Hang on-" Anger got interrupted a second time which only resulted in him getting beyond angry.

"However even I have to admit that I found the bit where you kissed him on the head entertaining!" Sniggered Disgust who had a confident smirk on her face. On the other hand embers on the top of Anger's head were now dangerously on their way to becoming a flash of fire ready to erupt at any moment.

Anger's fists were clenched so tight that his dark red skin was turning into a lighter shade from the pressure of the amount of force he was able to put into one fist. His eyes looking as though they also wanted to explode while his teeth began to rub against each other as he continued his strong grit.

Disgust took this as an opportunity to deeply rip into Anger as if to show the world the wild beast inside Anger's soul, just waiting to leap out and destroy anything in its path.

"Funny isn't it?" Disgust began, the other emotions clueless of what to say or do to stop it. Anger glaring at Disgust, a look that said give me your best shot.

"You know what! The only reason why you have been sucking up to Fear in the first place is to cover up the fact that you're too scared and hopelessly in love with him to admit you're the vicious monster who almost destroyed him physically and emotionally!"

Shocked that Disgust had yelled out the pure truth out loud right in front of him and his fellow emotions made his heart pound faster along with his chest getting tighter and his breathing becoming increasingly difficult. The embers on Anger's head were suddenly finally allowed to escape as he yelled from the impact of the flames rushing out from him.

The yelling lasted for a good couple of minutes before all four emotions heard a bloodcurdling shriek. The emotions turned around to find Fear leaning on the side of the core memory table, his eyes as wide as a petrified cat. Fear's hands were trembling along with his entire body, however to the emotions surprise he wasn't shaking because it was scared. He was experiencing anger which was something Anger himself knew all too well.

Anger took one step closer towards Fear before the purple emotion jabbed a finger at the shorter emotion before yelling out "y-you, it was you!"

" Fear please, let me explain" Anger begged, however Fear wasn't prepared to listen. Anger took another step closer, a shock to his system took place when Fear pushed the red emotion off of him.

"Don't touch me! Wasn't battering my body and brain enough for you!" Fear yelled, his eyes fixed on Anger, loathing the sight of him. The purple emotions body shaking furiously his fists clenched the exact same way as Anger's previously were, as if he was tempted to take his rage out on the shorter emotion.

"Look kid I wasn't thinking straight… I… well I- I don't even know" Anger stammered out, the scrawny emotion still shaking with rage.

Before Anger could have another attempt at explaining himself Fear scanned the core memories, looking horrified when noticing the purple and red one.

"What the heck is that!" Fear bellowed, scowling at the core memory in disgust.

"It's your… core memory… you and Anger created it a couple of days ago" Joy answered, her blue eyes a portrait of the word sorrow. Fear scoffed at the memory as if it was some vile disease.

Anger tried to bring out his arm to reassuringly touch his purple friends shoulder, only to have the red and purple memory chucked at him. "Don't touch me!" Fear screeched, tears brimming in his eyes.

"Fear please" Anger said in almost a whisper. Fear ignored him.

"No! You're a cruel , nasty, loathsome ,vile piece of work" was the screamed response Anger received from his thin friend. Fear then added "do me a favour and just stay away from me!"

The purple emotions words were like continuous punches to the stomach, each punch increasing with the pressure and the pain. Anger now desperate to explain himself and his actions he walked up to Fear just as he began to turn away to his own bedroom.

However all the emotions including Fear himself were in for a shock when the purple emotion lashed out at Anger, causing him to fly over to the same place he had done but without hitting the large window. All three female emotions gasped in horror, gobsmacked at how furious and upset Fear really was. Even Disgusts earlier smile of satisfaction had been replaced with the facial expression of pure terror. Although the female emotions were almost disturbed at Fear's violent outburst it was Anger who was struggling the most.

"Ow" was all Anger managed to squeak out, the back of his head on the floor which sent a disturbing amount of pain travelling through his entire body. On the other hand Fear had ran away in tears to his bedroom, slamming the door shut which still let out the sound of his distraught cries.

After a few minutes of lying down Anger weakly got himself up with help from Joy and Sadness, while Disgust was too shocked to move from her spot on the pink sofa.

"Anger?" Sadness tried before hearing a small whimper from the red emotion.

"I'm sorry…" he began, letting out a little cough before adding "at the moment I just need to be on my own." Once he was in the privacy of his own room he sunk to the floor as if to make himself look as small as he felt, giving permission for a teardrop to roll down his face. He winced in pain as his tears of remorse dribbled out a few at a time, when he had no more tears to shed he brought up a hand to touch his eye which was verging on purple.

Anger sighed in regret, he had never felt this worthless in his entire existence, the currently lifeless emotion sniffed and groaned before bringing himself to walk over to his desk which had a small mirror that he sometimes used to take his anger out on. Giving his eye and inspection he poked at it while hissing in pain, now knowing the amount of damage the flimsy emotion could create.

 _"Oh come on it's not as if you didn't do it to him first!"_ Anger spat to himself before poking at his eye some more. Anger suddenly caught himself shaking before his eyes widened with realisation ,despite the piercing pain circulating around his eye and top half of his body.

 _This is how it must feel like to be… Fear. Constantly worried for the future, receiving and dealing with the personal and physical insults as well as having to cope with the pressure of doing his job right. It's a tough job and an even tougher purpose to maintain._ Anger clenched his fist for a single second before mentally shaking himself from his thoughts.

Anger took a quick glance at the purple and red memory ball with a sigh. He continued to look at it ,tracing the ball with his fingertips until he had come to a decision.

 _"It's time I put this right !"_ Anger said with confidence before standing up and grabbing the multicolored core memory from his bed.


	7. Apologies all round

Face to face with Fear’s bedroom Anger seemed to be frozen on the spot he stood on, his nerves kicking in with his body mildly shaking.

 _Darn it! Stop being the selfish sod you are ,go in there and apologise for god sake!_ Anger thought to himself before carefully opening Fear’s bedroom door which was surprisingly unlocked. He was greeted to see the purple emotion lying motionlessly on his bed, his thin back facing Anger.

“Uh hey beanpo- I mean Fear” Anger began quietly but loud enough for Fear to hear.

“I thought I told you to stay away from me “ Fear mumbled in response.

  
Anger sighed. “Can I have a word… please?”

“Have two. Get lost!” Fear retorted.

Anger felt himself losing his patience quickly, however he was quick to figure out his anger wouldn't get him anywhere in this situation.

“Look just listen to me for five minutes at least!” Anger begged.

Fear groaned. “Fine. Five minutes, not a second more” the purple emotion replied in a dull tone.

Anger took a deep breath. “Ok I know I have been a lot more out of order than usual but I didn’t think my actions would lead me to this!” Anger bellowed.

“And…”Fear mumbled in reply.

“And I was an idiot alright? I Wasn't thinking straight -”

“Barely at all ”Fear said under his breath, with enough volume to purposely attract Anger’s attention.

Trying his hardest to ignore the purple emotions sarky comment he continued to talk. “But when I Had realised the consequences of my actions I wanted to make sure you were alright, well it was the least I could do.”

“It certainly wasn’t the least you did though was it?” Fear asked in a snappy tone.

Anger hung his head in shame, his eyes fixed on the purple emotion. “The next thing I know we were… well let's just say we were around each others company a lot more which I guess escalated to…”

“Escalated to what? Come one tell me!” Fear said, almost shouting out his sentence.

“It escalated to … to holding hands and even a little … kiss” Anger finally admitted to Fear.

At this point Fear had rolled over to face Anger and sat up, “you kissed me…” was all he could squeak out, shocked at Anger’s sudden admission.

“Yeah” Anger whispered back with guilt.

“Wha- what. But why!” Fear exclaimed in horror.

Anger remained speechless.

“You hate my very existence, y- you why would you kiss me! Wha- what is wrong with you!” Fear roared, his eyes wide and furious.

“I - I don’t know okay” Anger admitted openly.

The purple emotion was beyond angry which showed in his next but final sentence.

“Oh but I do ! It’s the fact that you see me as just someone to take your anger out on because you think I’m the weakest link! Then when your brain finally realises the stupidity of what your actions you pathetically cover it up with fake kindness and even worse you trick me into believing that you actually give a toss.Well let me tell you something I am sick and tired of being taken advantage of, especially when you knew full well I was in a vulnerable state!” Fear yelled, pointing his thin purple finger at Anger before calming down and rolling over to his right, once again with his back towards the red emotion.

Anger stood there without moving, silence having taken over his speech along with his short legs wobbling with the impact of the purple emotions rant. His ruby red eyes looking similar to Sadness's for nearly a minute.

“Uh could you goawaynow” Fear mumbled to Anger, refusing to look at the red emotion.

However to Fear’s dismay Anger remained still on the very same spot he had been stood on for the last ten minutes. All of a sudden Anger’s legs wobbled so viciously that he ended up sinking to the floor, covering his face with his hands.

Fear was about to repeat his words is a much less kinder tone when Anger blurted out, “Ok I admit it I was being a complete utter jerk but that was only to cover up the fact I am unable to control a lot more than just my vile temper!”

The short emotion briefly got back up on his feet to let his words escape from his mouth.

“Fear you may not understand my reasons for treating the way I have done now or ever but I need to tell you the truth and shout out into the open that the very honest reason I have been so… cruel, nasty and loathsome towards you is because I am hopelessly jealous of you!” Anger almost screamed breathing heavily to regain his calm tone, his eyes full of unshed tears, his body viciously shaking before falling to the floor in embarrassment mixed with fear and sorrow.

Fear remained motionless. Unsure whether Fear had been paying attention him, the red emotion forced himself to get up from where he had nearly broken down and placed the purple and red core memory in between Fears hands. Sniffing before leaving the memory in Fear’s grasp, shuffling off to the far corner of Fears room. Sinking himself down to the floor, if Anger was able to he would be more than capable to sink into the floor to achieve on showing how low he thought of himself at that very moment.

Meanwhile the purple emotion’s eyes lit up in realisation at how shy and dare he say it how sorry the red emotion seemed to feel. “Anger wait” was the shocking muffled sentence Fear had managed to let out in a much softer voice.

Anger looked up, slowly blinking at the scrawny emotion who had sat up for the second time, waiting for what his purple friend may ask of him or tell to his face.

“Answer this question for me ,what is it about me you could possibly be jealous of?” Fear asked bluntly.

Anger shakily sighed. “everything” he mumbled, earning him a cough from Fear as if it were a signal for him to explain himself. So he did.

“As I said everything, I’m jealous of your ability to maintain your kindness and patience towards me and Disgust despite those days when I can tell you want to push your fright away and stand up to us, I’m jealous that Joy trusts you more than any other emotion in headquarters, I’m jealous that nobody is scared or intimidated by you I'm also jealous of the fact that despite the amount of times you resort to freaking out and running around headquarters manage to provide something useful in a group activity such as hockey and-.”

The red emotion was cut off by Fear’s response of “I don't get it. If you really think all those positive about me then why make me feel worthless about myself, why openly shout abuse at me daily, why physically hurt me by scorching my butt or punching me… it just doesn't make sense Anger.”

 _He’s right. It doesn't! Be a decent emotion for once in your entire existence and tell him the honest, the honest bitter , painful truth you coward!_ A small voice hissed inside the very back of Angers head, triggering the shorter emotion to tell his purple friend his true feelings whether it bit him on the back side or not.

“Alright since you put it like that here goes. I am jealous of you but there is way more to it than what I’ve been letting on. All those times I have hurt you physically, emotionally and maybe even mentally wasn’t because I loathe your existence it was because I hated and still do hate mine…”

Fear eyes briefly widened at hearing the unexpected honesty, he gave a slight cough as if giving permission for the red emotion to talk.

Anger sighed unsteadily. “The numerous occasions I have called you an idiot, coward and even once worthless are the reflections of how I see and think of myself. I can’t do the things you and the other emotions do. I’m not enthusiastic like Joy, empathetic like Sadness, thorough like Disgust or protective like you. All I do is shout and throw things when I get in a hissy fit.”

“Hang on” Fear tried to babble out.

“I mean I sometimes ask myself what my purpose even is. Yeah Joy says it's to make sure Riley’s life is as fair as possible but how fair was it to practically force her to run away, to cause all the personality islands to crumbled down? At least you know your purpose and how to maintain it , I always step over the line and over the top until I can no longer control my slip ups which leads to one of the other emotions having to sort out my mess!”

“Anger I” Fear trailed off when cut of by a ‘shh’ from the red emotion.

“Being the emotion who allegedly knows the most about fairness I have basically been a hypocrite. All those times I have hit you, punched you, set your butt on fire and verbally abused you was anything but fair!” Anger shrunk himself into a tight red ball.

In reality I’m just pathetic.”

The last bit of Angers sentence was said in a whisper. Fear frantically turned himself around to face Anger, astounded to find the usually strong , gobby brave red emotion in the same position Fear usually curled himself into on a regular basis with tears leaking down his eyes, which one was a shade of deep purple.

“Oh Anger!” Fear said fearfully as he lept off his bed and towards the shorter emotion. Anger didn't speak nor move.

“You didn’t punch yourself out of frustration did you?” Fear asked, his words rushed out from the shock.

Anger tilted his head towards Fear, letting out a small cough. Instantly it had clicked into the purple emotions brain.

“Oh… OH I’M SO SORRY ANGER, OH DARN IT , OH MY GOD!” Fear shouted. His heart racing and breathing frantically.

Fear sprung up from his seated position and ran to face the window, “I’ so sorry Anger, I never thought I could be that …”despicable Fear whispered, a forming lump in his throat affecting his speech.

Anger shook his head in disbelief. “Don’t be sorry. It taught me something.”

Fear slowly turned around, this time his eyes fixed on Angers. Confusion filling his facial features, Anger explained further.

“It taught me what it was like to be you…” The red emotion trailed off awkwardly.

“Really?” Fear questioned without a second thought.

Anger gulped. _It's now or never pal._ The red emotion stood up and walked over to Fear ,putting an arm round him with confidence.

“You know straight after you punched me I fell to the floor and I was shaking. It's even safe to say that I felt scared, no terrified of what could have happened next. This has now made me realise just how badly mine or anyone's thoughtless actions can affect someone. In this case my actions made you twice as insecure, twice as worried for yourself and not to mention for Riley. Most importantly of all it made you mess up a lot more which certainly didn't help when Disgust and I mocked and tortured you for it.” Anger’s said, his low voice comforting Fear a little.

“You actually felt all that…” Fear squeaked, unable to speak another word.

“Yes and more. “ Anger replied in the same tone of voice, moving away from Fear and onto the purple emotions bed.

He took a deep breath and gestured Fear to come over to him. “You see that memory ball?” Anger pointed at the purple and red memory in Fears hands, who until now was unaware of it in his hands.

“We created that” was all Anger told him, Fears facial expression a mixture of shock and surprise.

“How”? Fear asked suddenly.

“You along with my determination helped Riley to score not just an ordinary goal but the winning goal for the game of the season considering you had no memory of your purpose at the time, that's why it's a core memory which makes it extra… special if you like to think of it that way.”

“I really do” the purple emotion said softly, Anger flinched at the touchiness.

As the two emotions held the core memory together, Fear swiped his finger across it , his smile gradually increasing as the core memory played on. Fear could have sworn Anger was tearing up for the second time during that time, he decided not to question it.

Before the purple emotion could find the courage to speak Anger beat him to it by slowly admitting “it was that moment from there when I knew I was and still am in love with you.”

Fear’s heart skipped a beat. He could barely breath along with feeling heavily faint. Just as he was about to collapse Anger had quickly caught him before making the purple emotion lie on his bed until he felt able to stand upright again.

“Y-you love me…?” Fear slurred out, his eyes fluttering as if battling to stay open. The red emotion nodded awkwardly.

“You know what? I could get used to this idea as I sort of love you too…” Fear trailed off. Anger gazing at his purple crush with gentle eyes. “I suppose I have done for a while but knowing a strong , brave character like you would never want a idiotic coward like me” Fear sighed sadly.

Unexpectedly Anger took the thinner emotions scrawny hand in his own red stubby hand, their finger entwining with each others. “You're not a coward and you're certainly not idiotic, I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

Fear coughed awkwardly. “Well I haven't exactly been cowardly these past few days” the purple emotion stated.

Anger chuckled nervously. “Yeah but it was my fault.” Before Fear could protest Anger added “so er I think I better erm... go and leave you to rest, we’ll talk in the morning.”

Just as the red emotion turned to leave Fear leapt up from behind, spun him around and grabbed his hand, gripping it tightly.

Anger looked down at his hand, Fear immediately loosened his grip. “I’m sorry erm did I do something wrong? Did I upset you in anyway because if I did I-”

The red emotion was cut off by Fear placing a finger on Anger’s lips. “For an emotion who hates all this touchy feely business, you talk way too much.” And with that Fear leaned in to kiss Anger on the lips, he didn't try to move away or growl. Truth be told he enjoyed it.

“Wow erm you kiss really well” Anger commented the added “for a string bean” with a smirk.

“Ah well you’re not so bad yourself. For a brick head” was Fear’s as equally cheeky response.

Anger chuckled happily, _remember it's not too late late to tell him_ were the words that played in Anger’s mind before silently thanking Sadness for teaching him the error of his ways as well as his purple friend who was now his lover.


	8. Behold the future

For the next few following days the two emotions at first found it awkward to be around each other after the previous night's conversation. However their confidence gradually grew as the days went by .

With the other emotions currently unaware of their newfound relationship the two male emotions decided to keep it a secret, especially when referring to a certain snobby broccoli hating emotion.

However as the days turned into weeks the other emotions ,Sadness in particular became more alert of the male emotions progressive relationship. Leaving her smiling, Joy jumping for joy and Disgust in utter disgust, not wasting her opportunity to voice her opinion along the lines of "ugh, you better not do that in front of us!" before flouncing off grumpily.

To Fear's shocking discovery no sizzling embers were forming upon Anger's head, infact it was safe to say the red emotion wasn't remotely angry. Instead he resolved to lightly taking the scrawny emotions hand before assuring he would control his temper just for him.

All Fear did for that moment was smile uncontrollably.

The days when dream duty was assigned to one of the male emotions, the other would more than willingly give up their sleep just to be with one another. If a nightmare popped out of nowhere Anger was quick to let Fear cling on to him for comfort, earning a slightly embarrassed giggle from his purple companion. He always knew how to be adorable without intending to, which was one of many things Anger cherished about him. The following mornings they were often found on the pink sofa curled up against one another, Anger snoring lightly with Fear wrapped around him. It was almost a chore for Joy or Sadness to wake them from their pleasure.

One thing all the emotions had noticed about Anger since he and Fear had made up and dramatically moved on was that it no longer took only the littlest things to wind him up. These days quite a bit of effort would be required to get even the smallest of results especially if Fear was present in the situation. This didn't mean he wasn't prone to a few explosions now and again. Especially when it came to a certain green emotion and knowing how push his buttons which on some occasions made him want to chuck furniture around. On the other hand the slightly faded but accurate memory of the dreadful month old memory wiped out any thoughts of anything to do with violence.

No one could have been more grateful for these changes as much as Fear. No longer of being terrified whenever his red companion was even a few meters away from him took a huge chunk of stress off his back. The new levels of calmness between the two emotions had been noticed by Joy who was more than thrilled to let them work together more often without the concern of a fight.

Although the same could be said for Sadness who in the past had to stand in between the two of them when things got out of hand. However now she could just sit at the back of headquarters, updating herself on the latest information from the mind manuals without many unnecessary distractions.

When Fear and Anger weren't performing there daily roles or assigned dream duty they would always sneak into each other's rooms to get their quality time together. Sometimes they would recap on funny memories, other times they would chat about new life events that have occurred for Riley. But mostly they would talk about their relationship which would usually turn into a game of friendly insults, even if a particular moody emotion complained about losing sleep due to their conversations which often lasted long into the night.

Despite Disgust's annoying and sometimes nasty comments Anger and Fear weren't going to let her get to them, no matter how low she would go to rip their relationship apart. Even when at the worst possible moment she choose to stumble into them, let's just say for that very day her complaint was cut short. Nevertheless Disgust was back to her taunting ways that very next morning, some phrases implying their relationship wouldn't last long.

To prove they were a million percent serious about their progressing relationship, Disgust was greeted to a large photo hanging on her light green bedroom wall the very following evening.

At the bottom it read in capital letters in bold writing

_**WE SHALL NOT BACK DOWN!** _

Above it was the image of Anger and Fear snogging tightly, introducing Disgust to the whole new meaning of shame.

To celebrate the success of their joint efforts one final kiss was to be given as an unforgettable award worth keeping.


End file.
